Boat trip up the Mekong to the silk weaving Islands

This photo, is meant to go at the end, however the technology is not allowing it! These children are beggars, that jumped into the water next to our boat, there were about 5 of them all naked splashing about and showing off in the river in hopes of some money or food. However we have been told not to give money to child beggars as there is a large 'rent a child' business here, and either the money goes straight to an external source or the children become dependant on the money you give them. Tugs at the heart strings though not to give money or food, especially when young young children are looking after crying babies.

This was our boat,, supposed to only hold 10 people but actually could of held a lot more! It was a lot of fun getting out of PP, and the breeze that was blowing up the Mekong was just amazing! made it around 10 degrees cooler! We got up the river to one silk weaving place and i bought 2 scarves they are gorgeous, one is pink and one is blue, i wear them as headbands and belts, however when we got on the boat to head to another island it had broken down!

In typical cambodian style the man got his one spanner and went down to play wit the spring that was the clutch pedal, and tighten the rope that was the gear lever and around 30 mins later she went again, and we headed back to PP missing out on the other islands unfortunately! However got to watch these kids splash around in the water and see some locals bathing their cows, see below.

To climb on the boat, was rather a balancing act, just one wooden plank and bar, heaps of fun and it meant not getting into the beautiful mekong river water, see all the rubbish lying about on the bank behind the boat. Its a sad story, but the street dwellers really have nowhere else to dispose of rubbish and use the toilet so the smell was not too pleasant either!

Moi, with Phnom Penh in the background, enjoying my breeze!

This village is predominantly a Vietnamese village, it floats on the river and has everything from pig pens to schools to houses on the river, when the water rises it reaches up to the top of the stilts of the houses you can see in the background! a long way up! Unfortunately the river becomes the dumping ground for the floating village also, but in general the Mekong river is pretty clean particularily further up.

This is a local woman, bathing her cows, she owns three and one calf, one thing that struck me as unusual was how skinny they were! I wonder how they can produce milk and meat when they have none themselves! Apparently in Cambodia, if you cow eats rice it is a well repected cow! Who would of thought! The peopple where full clothes into the river whilst doing anything, washing carpets, tending to cows, slinging in boats you name it!